Chapter 3 part 1
Matias
The bell rang at the door of the coffee shop he worked in for what seemed like the 100th time that morning. Matias didn't understand the point of a bell. If someone walks in and nobody is at the counter, they have a bell at the counter!
They walked in, ordered, got their drink, and left. This is all Matias did all day. From 7:15 to 3:30 he would stand here, take orders, give them their drink, and he'd watch them leave.
It may seem repetitive and obnoxious, but Matias loved it. He had worked at the coffee shop since he moved to the city, and back then it was just kind of a shit hole. Maybe that was good though because it had been the 17th job he tried for and the only one that accepted him.
It's not easy getting a job when you don't have valid paperwork, don't have any kind of ID, and look like you're ready to punch anyone at anytime.
You don't have to look at Matias for more than a second to know that he looks very intimidating. His eyes are a pale gray color and the way they rest looks like an angry glare. His lips rest in a frown and weren't brightly colored at all. His jawline wasn't usually noticed due to his distracting and scary looking face, but it was sharp and certainly didn't help him look friendly. Not to mention he had pitch black hair that contradicted his pale skin and grey eyes. His hair was thick and a bit too wavy to be called 'curly' but still a bit too curly to be called 'wavy'.
Another worker walked over and pat Matias on the back.
"What's up big man" a feminine voice spoke beside him.
"Hello, Alexa"
Alexa was another worker who had been working there for a while. She was actually the one who convinced the owner to hire Matias despite his scary face and lack of paperwork.
"Cmon man I told you to call me Lexi! I know you remember, you just want to piss me off!" Lexi was by far the loudest worker, and though Matias was probably the quietest, they were close friends. That's what Lexi believed anyways, Matias wasn't really sure what qualified as a 'close friend'.
"Sorry" Matias said with a smirk on his face
"Alright asshole, I've got to go to the back, don't get killed or anything"
"Mhm, you might want to fix your language around customers Alexa" He smugly looked over to Lexi who was flipping him off while walking to the back.
There weren't actually any customers in the shop right that second so I didn't matter, but Lexi specifically worked in the back because she couldn't control her tongue up front.
The bell rang again and Matias glanced only slightly at the door before turning his whole head to the door and staring wide eyed.
He made eye contact with the man who had walked in the door before the other man looked away awkwardly. He wanted to look away too, but pure shock overtook him for a few seconds longer than he would've liked.
He watched the man slightly limp all the way over to the counter before glancing up at him and back down at his hands.
"Just the usual please.. under the name Samuel"
Samuel. That's why he recognized the hero's face so much. Samuel was one of the customers who came In almost every single day. Just a few days ago Matias had nodded at Samuel as he walked in and Samuel didn't even need to approach the counter until he was picking up his drink. Samuel came in at the same exact time every single day and ordered the same exact thing.
Matias was handed the man's drink so he could call him up and give it to him, but this was different than every other day.
He wasn't giving the drink to Samuel, the regular guy who liked his coffee at 7:30 every morning and had done nothing to make Matias like nor dislike him. This was the hero who had been fighting Matias for years. The same hero who Matias had fought with and saved just the night before.
Matias swallowed all of his emotions and took a deep breath.
"Samuel"
Matias stared bullets into the table as he handed Samuel, the hero, his drink. He made the mistake of looking back up at the hero and met his eyes, unable to look away. He was stuck staring into his dark brown eyes and begging himself to look away.
"Hey uh.. Matias"
He flinched a bit hearing the man who he had known for years, as a customer and an enemy, said his name for the first time ever.
He took a few desperate deep breaths, still staring into Samuels eyes and trying to take the fearful look out of his own.
"Are you alright? Not to be rude but you look.. I don't know.. on edge?"
He spoke in a soft voice and his face softened. His eyes became more comforting rather than scary. Matias took another deep breath
"Uh yeah.. thanks" Matias replied speaking quieter than normal.
That's when it really hit him. He was right in front of Samual, and he knew that he was the hero. However, Samual had no idea he was speaking to the villain.
"Alright, well I hope you have a good day" Samuel said and started turning to leave.
"Say.." Matias spoke back in his normal tone and volume.
"I saw you limping in here, is something wrong with your leg?" He questioned the customer trying to keep from smirking and laughing in the heroes face.
Samuels face reddened and his eyes widened. He finally broke the eye contact with Matias and took a long sip of his coffee, doing his best to stall so he could think of an answer.
"Well uh, it's a long story. I sprained my ankle doing stupid stuff" He stared down at his coffee, avoiding eye contact once again.
"Right, well you'll have to tell me that story sometime. Have a good day"
Matias smiled at Samuel as Samuel spun around and tried harder than necessary to hide his limp as he walked out the door.
As much as Matias would love to repeat that encounter over and over in his head, he had to take the order of a group of teenage girls who had just walked in. Though they all whispered too each other so long between orders he probably could've done that anyway.
After Matias was off work
Matias said his goodbyes to all the workers in the shop and headed down the street. His house wasn't far from the coffee shop, just a 5 minute walk.
He changed out of the t-shirt that the shop makes the workers wear and into a looser, plain black, t-shirt. He pulled one of his hoodies out of his closet, turned it inside-out and tied it around his waist. He then grabbed his mask and hat, tucking the mask in his back pocket and his hat in the waist of his jeans.
Matias was much more casual with his look as 'the villain' than the hero was. He wore what was basically a simple black mask that a sick person would wear and would pick one of his many hats to go with it. Of course he was still safe with it though. He always messed with all his masks and hats so the masks were sturdy and clipped securely around his neck while the hats clipped to the mask, also on the back of his neck.
He would just wear some random, usually black, jeans with the classical 'villain' hoodie. Of course he also tweaked the hoodie a little, he added some inside pockets and a little padding on the inside.
It was awfully easy to create shields and protect himself with his power so he didn't worry much about fancy gear or a whole ass suit like the hero had.
After grabbing all his things, Matias left his house once again.
It was now around 4:30 p.m and Matias was just rounding the last alley side route to get to his destination.
"Hey man" Matias made his presence known and put a hand on his friends shoulder.
"The hell did I tell you bout comin' out here?! You're gonna wind up dead Mat!" The other person stood up from the folding chair they were sitting in and turned around to meet Matias' eyes.
Matias laughed a bit.
"This really isn't funny Mat. Hell I thought you might've already died yesterday when you got chased by Guzantee's men!"
"Nah those pricks were easy to lose, don't worry bout it" Matias dismissed his friends concerns.
He laughed again.
"I'm sorry man I can't take you seriously when you're like five foot three and looking up and me like that" Matias stopped trying to hold it in and bent over laughing.
"I'm five seven and you know that!" The man stood firm and slightly on his toes.
"Alright, alright, sorry dude" Matias wiped a tear from his eye.
"Anyways, I just wanted to come chill for a bit. Life has been stressin me out. That alright with you, Jamie?"
"Only if you stop callin me that ridiculous name you made up" He smirked looking upwards at his friend
"Yeah yeah, James, Jamie, what difference does it make"
"It's the difference between my foot on the ground and up your ass you prick"
James and Matias both laughed for a moment.
"Pull up a chair. Just so you know, I'm not lending you any more drugs."
Matias sat down next to James in a old lawn chair.
"That really what you think I came here for? Cant I just hang out with a friend without needing drugs?" Matias looked at James with fake puppy dog eyes.
"Dude stop that, your face isn't made for dog eyes"
"Damn"
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before James' voice filled the air.
"You did come here for drugs though, didn't you?" He didn't bother looking over to Matias
"Yep" Matias said shamelessly
He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to James while lighting his own.
"Dude, I'm all for it once it a while, but you've for real got an issue" He didn't bother softening his voice at all.
James finally looked over to Matias, who refused to meet his gaze.
"Alright man I've had this lecture multiple times before" Matias sighed.
He stood up, put out his cigarette, and left, going back the same way he came.
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I just realized as I'm pre-writing later chapters that they're slowly getting longer and longer so expect less short chapters later on